Big Pauper, An Interview

Big Pauper, formerly Panzah Zanzah, is just ridiculously good. A deejay, producer, and former manager of hip hop label Token Recluse– he knows what he’s doing when it comes to rhythms and beats. April 26th birthed the release of Beyond My Means, an album which only proves the intelligence and creativity Big Pauper brings to the genre known as hip-hop.

Big Pauper is my mid-twenties. It’s my required credit check, myuneasiness having to force a smile, my suit and tie noose, my dinnersout I put on credit cards i’ll never pay, my innate hypocrisies, myflabby will, my empty bank account, my constant ailments, myfrustrations with humanity, and my fight against settling intoself-defined mediocrity. It’s also my extensive catalog of beautifulmoments, my love for the people in my life, my connection with thevarious scents one discovers in the pacific nw forest, my sense ofaccomplishment seeing an idea to fruition, my desire to live more inharmony with the natural world, my garden i will plant in a fewmoments, and my appreciation of various grainy, soot-covered, brokenand dusty aesthetics.

Q. First of all, I have to compliment you on your choice of name…Big Pauper is just excellent. What made you decide to move on from your previous identity Panzah Zandahz and create this one?

Panzah Zandahz was some silly shit I came up with as a kid. Idelighted in everybody’s inability to pronounce it for a while, but itbegan to bug me when so many mis-spellings or omissions of it surfacedwith the Me & This Army stuff from 05. It also began to feel likesome late 90’s DnB deejay name like Cupah Cyentific, Elektrizz.ity orPsylensah. Not too tasteful.. kind of like what I called my label init’s infancy, Zero Skillz Recordingz. I think I even used to ALL-CAPSthem Z’s.

Q. I love the Radiohead remix/mashup “Me and This Army”, are you heavily influenced by other musicians? Who?

Contemporary hip hop lost me around 2004 or so. I’ll still throw onsome Lord Finesse or Ultramagnetic, don’t get me wrong, but nothingnew has moved me in years. As far as mainstream hip hop goes, it doesand says what it needs to in order to make money. It continues toprovide a constant barrage of ideological nonsense in support ofexcess, money and material bullshit, further perpetuating it all. Themajority seems all too happy to give in to any shiny object presentedbefore them as long as it provides the much needed temporarydistraction from anything that has any real impact on themselves ortheir environment. Not that there probably aren’t people out theretrying to say something substantial within mainstream hip hop, theyjust probably aren’t selling many records.

Q. So about the album, that I can’t stop listening to… you justreleased Beyond My Means April 26, what are you most looking forward to with its release?

Being able to move on to the next project. It is rare I finish anyproject I set out to complete, so it is always a bright day in my lifewhen some big project sees itself to fruition. I had been working onBeyond My Means for over seven years. Lived in a lot of differentplaces over the span of that time.

Q. How is it different from your previous “Cops Eat Flowers”?

Not to speak ill of Cops Eat Flowers,but those are cutting-room floortracks. I didn’t want those tracks on the album for various reasonsbecause I didn’t feel like they fit. I was shooting for something alittle more cohesive on Beyond My Means.

Q. If you could create a slogan or catch phrase for Beyond My Means, what would it be?

Ooo, like on movie posters? Hmmm… too borrow the tag-line from thefilm the Innkeepers “a ghost story for the minimum wage.”

Q. So you’re ready to embark on an overseas European tour with Brad Hamers to promote both your new albums, what are you most looking forward to on that adventure?

I’ve been rather hermit-ous all throughout this bleak six monthportland winter and haven’t had much human interaction for a while.I’m looking forward to meeting the good folks you meet on the road,seeing my old friends from the last tour and catching up with Hamers.Hamers is my right hand man and we travel really well together. Notonly that but being in his presence triggers off a healthy creativemania in me.. we always seem to just go fucking nuts everywhere we go. Travel is what keeps me going…. I stay in one place too long and Ilose circulation, limbs die and I become comfortably numb in routine,a very dangerous place to be. It’s been almost a year since I hit theroad so I’m due for some serious shenanigans.

Q. Are you planning any US tours?

Lining up a west coast tour with Hamers for the summer. It’s comingtogether slowly but surely. It’s looking like september will bring aneastern European tour which I am very excited about. The overseasadventures always seem to just fall in to my lap… but bookingdomestically is always a real jobby job.. I still haven’t been able tobook a home-town show for this album, haha.

Q. Do you have a favorite show you’ve played to date, any ridiculous tour stories you’d like to share?

This tour is going to take the cake… it is a story in the making.But, the most immediate tour memory that jumps to mind is the time Igot in to a full on brawl with some rent-a-cops at twelve in theafternoon in the parking lot of some Kent, OH supermarket. I’ll spareyou the embarrassing details.

Q. What piece of advice would you give to young musicians trying to make it in the music industry?

Make your own industry.

Q. The obligatory Punkcakes question – As a music blog with anappreciation for the pastry art, what is your favorite dessert?

Hmmm…. I could go for box of french macaroons in the tub with themrs. right about now. Yum yum! Thanks for chatting and be well.